A new drug that makes brain cancer cells glow during surgery has been successfully used for the first time in a surgical procedure in Australia.

Royal Melbourne Hospital neurosurgeon Dr. Kate Drummond used the drug, called gliolan, to help identify and remove high-grade gliomas from her patient David Hall last Friday. Another surgeon, Dr. David Walker had performed the same procedure a day before in Brisbane.

The drug makes the cancerous cells glow a fluorescent red under blue light during surgery, making it easier for surgeons to distinguish between healthy cells and diseased ones. The patient has to ingest the drug three or four hours before surgery which would then accumulate in the cells of the tumor.

"This drug basically helps us visualize the tumor better so that we can differentiate tumor from normal brain. So we can remove more of the tumor than was possible before and so that we can protect the normal brain," Drummond said in a statement to ABC News Online.

The drug was especially helpful for Hall whose tumor was lodged in the sensory cortex, a region of the brain that controls sensation and feeling. Using the drug to identify the tumor made the procedure safer for the patient.

"It might seem astonishing, but in fact often the difference in appearance between tumor and brain is not as obvious as you might think... being able to clearly differentiate between tumor and normal brain using this drug makes things a lot easier for us," she said.

"It's a straightforward way to make surgery both more effective and safer. So I think that there will probably be higher uptake of this kind of procedure across Australia."

The drug's main side effect is a sensitivity to light for a day.

"Obviously you wouldn't want to go out sunbaking within the 24 hours after you've taken it, but just normal ambient light is not a problem," Drummond said.

Hall is now recuperating after the surgery.